There’s a fun read over at CBS from Matt Snyder on the bests and worsts in history for the Chicago Cubs. I think Snyder does a pretty good job capturing the highs and lows, which makes for an enjoyable (and frustrating) stroll down memory lane.
For the best regular season moment, Snyder selected what I suspect most of you would select: The Sandberg Game. A nationally-televised June game against the Cardinals in 1984, and Ryne Sandberg ties the game twice with homers in the bottom of the 9th and 10th innings off of Cardinals closer Bruce Sutter. Being that Sandberg went on to stardom (and the MVP in 1984) and the Cubs went on to the playoffs, this is about as good as it gets in the regular season. I buy it.
Tony over at Ball Eight took issue with the selection, though, wanting to throw some love to Kerry Wood’s 20K game, which is one of the best three or so regular season pitching performances of all-time. He looks at the game scores to back it up. Snyder subsequently updated his piece to include Wood’s game.
That got me wondering: are those two pretty clearly the obvious two best regular season moments (or games, because it was kind of an overall thing) in Cubs history?
It’s always tough to do these things, because we’re limited by our own memory, which is also deeply personalized based on how we experienced various moments. For example, when Sammy Sosa hit his 60th homer in 1998, I was moved in a way that stuck with me (“Ruth, Maris, now Sosa.”). But that’s not the greatest moment in Cubs regular season history.
How about you folks? Any regular season moments that stick out to you as particularly special, even if you know they aren’t the “best” moment in Cubs history? And, speaking of which, what is the best moment in Cubs regular season history? Do we all at least agree that it’s probably The Sandberg Game or 20K?